Bulls went berserk on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on week's last trading day following an aggressive buying from big players, placing the index up by 71.88 points.
At the close, the LSE-25 index was registered at 2976.39 points as compared to it's previous closing at 2904.51 points. There was also a phenomenal rise in turnover, which mounted to 112.398 million shares from 84.846 million, posting an increment of 27.552 million shares.
The market opened with a healthy note with Adamjee Insurance and banking stocks receiving fresh buying.
According to stock analysts, the game remained in the control of big players who heavily bought while main support came from the institutions.
They said that National Bank outperformed on the basis of its good quarterly earnings and at one point upward caps were placed to stop it from going beyond limits.
Bank of Punjab (BoP), MCB, Sui Northern and cement stocks also fared well and improved it's values. Stock analysts said that the market is expected to continue the trend and people might witness a good buying session when the market re-opens on Tuesday. When the closing bells rang gainers outnumbered losers with a wide margin.
Ahmed Nabeel, head of operations, Invest & Finance Securities, said due to long week-end, general public had off-loaded on Thursday, apprehending any eventuality, therefore, institutions took advantage of the situation and picked up stocks at attractive levels.
Though buying was seen across the board, bank and cement stocks outperformed. He added that NBP showed a sharp upward movement due to its good quarterly results and later the trend was also followed by Bank of Punjab and other banking stocks including MCB.
There was also a rumour in the market that the government might announce a policy on construction of dams before the budget, which triggered interest in cement sector, Nabeel stated.
However, he pointed out that decline in badla rate and badla capitalisation was the actual driving force, which lured key players, notably institutions to go for fresh buying.
About the future direction of the market he said fresh buying could emerge on Tuesday too, but from the next session it could go downward again. "I think till third week of May, the market could remain range bound and then a budget-related rally could start." he viewed.
He further pointed out that people, especially small investors and traders are advised to remain cautious and adopt a 'sell on strength' strategy.
There were 37 gainers against 4 losers with 46 staying unchanged, out of 87 traded scrips.
Leading gainers were Adamjee Insurance improving by Rs 6.05, National Bank Rs 4.55, Bank of Punjab Rs 3.55, Sui Northern and Picic Commercial Bank Rs 2.40 each. Among key losers, Kohinoor Textile Mills was down by Rs 1.10, LTC Capital Modarba Rs 0.25 while Genertech Pakistan and Fauji Fertiliser Rs 0.05 each.
National bank and Bank of Punjab were the volume leaders with 18.204 million and 14.201 million share turnover, respectively.
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